January 13, 2012
Who uses public access ICTs? With the release of the first survey working paper, Public access to ICTs: Sculpting the profile of users, the Global Impact Study offers insight into who the users of public access ICTs are. Written by George Sciadas, with input from Hil Lyons, Chris Rothschild, and Araba Sey, this working paper results from data analysis of the user surveys in Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, and the Philippines.
December 6, 2011
One of the research questions the Global Impact Study is considering is the relationship between the costs and benefits of providing and using public access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). Understanding this relationship is important for governmental and non-governmental decision makers who fund or are thinking about funding public access ICT venues. There is a multitude of approaches in the cost-benefit analysis field for examining this issue, as well as a multitude of perspectives from which it could be studied. The Global Impact Study is employing three different methods to estimate the use and non-use benefits of providing public access to ICTs and examine how these are distributed by geographic and demographic characteristics. Tyler Davis, PI for the Benefit Cost Analysis in-depth study, describes the three methods.
December 1, 2011
Global Impact Study developer Alex Tulinsky presented a poster, “Vizmo: Open-Source Tools for Geospatial Data in Web Applications,” at University of Washington’s GIS Day (Geographic Information Systems) on November 16, 2011. The poster he presented provides an overview of software components used in the upcoming 2.0 version release of the Global Impact Study inventory database web application.
November 18, 2011
TASCHA TALK: Samantha Becker & Rebecca Sears December 1, 2011 Rebecca Sears discussed TASCHA’s new project to develop a framework for digitally inclusive communities. In cooperation with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and as part of the U.S. National Broadband Plan, this framework will provide communities with a resource for assessing and…
November 17, 2011
The TASCHA Winter 2012 Research Seminar focuses on analysis of data from the Global Impact Study. The Global Impact Study comprises a variety of research activities, including a comprehensive set of surveys of public access venue owners/operators, users, and non-users at more than a thousand public access venues in Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, and the Philippines. The result is a rich source of data on demographics, usage needs/behaviors, and services in these countries. The seminar will focus on analysis of the survey data and provide opportunities to participate in different aspects of the project from crunching numbers to reviewing related literature.
November 4, 2011
TASCHA TALK: Cortney Leach November 17, 2011 Conducted in 2009, the U.S. IMPACT Study provided evidence that use of public access technology services offered at U.S. public libraries has a profound and measurable impact on individuals and communities. The IMPACT Survey project aims to extend the benefits of the study by making its patron web survey…
October 11, 2011
On October 20, 2011, Araba Sey and Chris Rothschild will discuss the development and implementation of the Global Impact Study surveys. The talk is part of the Technology and Social Change Group’s (TASCHA) TASCHA Talk series.
October 10, 2011
TASCHA TALK: Araba Sey & Chris Rothschild October 27, 2011 The Global Impact Study surveys were designed to collect comparable data on uses and outcomes of public access ICT use in five countries on three continents. Araba and Chris reflected on a range of research design and project management issues encountered during various stages of the…
October 6, 2011
TASCHA TALK: Joe Sullivan November 3, 2011 In September 2011, members of TASCHA, Mozilla, Aspiration Technology, and the East West Management Institute convened “Open Cambodia 2011″ — an un-conference to mobilize makers/doers in Cambodia. The event brought together more than 100 open-source technologists, human rights activists, and civil society representatives to share their work and experiences….
July 8, 2011
After two years of fieldwork, we convened our research partners from around the world for a project-wide workshop during the last week of June, 2011. This workshop is significant in the Global Impact Study timeline, as it launched the next phase of our study – data analysis and integration. The majority of the workshop was devoted to sharing and discussing the emerging findings from each of the research activities.
